An Elegant Piece of Catalysts Development Puzzle: Routine and Advanced Characterization

ABSTRACT

Catalyst characterization represents an elegant and essential piece in the complex puzzle of catalyst development. This presentation explores both routine and advanced characterization techniques that are fundamental to understanding catalyst properties and performance. From standard analytical methods such as BET surface area, XRD, and temperature-programmed techniques to sophisticated approaches including in-situ/operando spectroscopy and advanced microscopy, we demonstrate how these complementary tools create a comprehensive picture of catalyst structure-activity relationships. The systematic integration of routine characterization provides crucial baseline information, while advanced techniques offer deeper insights into catalyst behavior under real working conditions. Through selected case studies, the presentation illustrates how this multi-level characterization approach and combination of various analytical techniques have led to solid points on understanding the catalysts properties and addressing practical issues.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Renqin Zhang got his Ph.D. in Materials Science from Jilin University, China, in 2011. Prior to his Ph.D., he received his Bachelor’s in Polymer Materials and Engineering from Jilin University, China. Throughout his research career in academia from Yonsei University in South Korea to Washington State University and The University of Texas at Austin in the USA, Renqin had focused on computational materials characterization, spanning various materials and applications such as emission control, energy conversion, non-conventional electrode in fuel cells and dielectric layer in semiconductors. Renqin joined Clariant in 2020 and currently holds the position of Lead Scientist/Senior Group Leader at Louisville R&D Center, Clariant. With his career transition to industry, Renqin is leading an analytical team to provide analytical science expertise and support all projects for catalyst development, quality control in production, and customer technical support. He also manages external analytical cooperations for various projects. Externally, Renqin is active in academia-industry engagements, sustainability, and circularity efforts. He is serving as an industry advisory board member at the University of South Alabama for the project “Building Industry-Ready Curriculum for Plastics Circularity” funded by NIST. He is also involved in leadership positions in the Tri-state Catalysis Society to organize the annual symposiums and has been in the role of Vice President since Sep. 2024. In the broader community of Catalysis Reaction Engineering (CRE) Division in AIChE, Renqin serves as a mentor in the mentoring program, as well as poster judge, session chair, and bin leader in the annual AIChE meeting. He is also serving as Director of the CRE Division since Jan. 2025.